Bosch professional tools... moaning time.

[GoNz0]

My 15 month old Bosch professional sander started to vibrate excessively at the weekend so I figured a bearing was on the way out as it has had a hard life sanding down cement based filler.
I logged into my Bosch account and couldn't find the damn thing anywhere, turns out I must have forgot to register it.
No problem I thought, being a loyal Bosch blue customer with 2 pages of products registered a quick phone call and I was sure I could get this sorted.
How wrong was I, some arrogant woman on the phone couldn't give a toss that I forgot to register the warranty and due to that it was only covered for a year, they would not budge even when I said I had been brand loyal for over a decade!
Talk about screwing me over for a simple registration oversight.

but of course we can offer a fixed price repair she said, starting at £50+VAT

I only paid £80 for it


anyway it turns out the so called quality professional range has some cheap crap far east LKF bearing in the swing plate, the bearing that takes the full force of the vibrations.... I can get this sent from China for a quid, yes a bleeding quid!

anyway, scooter works europe are sending me a nice SKF bearing for £3.05, £16 has been spent at Bosch for a rub plate & filter box I may as well swap while I have it in bits as it is scratched to death with the abrasives the felt pad has scrubbed into it and a new counterbalance as that has rubbed due to the bearing breaking cage breaking down so all the bearings were shoved into half the bearing, no wonder it vibrated so badly!



Rant over.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Makita professional is better.

[kompukare]

Maybe buying used old tools might be better?
I'm sure I've come across reviews complaining about quality and CS even with Festool and Milwaukee so even paying twice as much as Makita still doesn't guarantee quality.

[GoNz0]

Maybe buying used old tools might be better?
I'm sure I've come across reviews complaining about quality and CS even with Festool and Milwaukee so even paying twice as much as Makita still doesn't guarantee quality.

Afraid I have a bad track record with 2nd hand power tools so I tend to go with the Bosch blue range due to price and 3 year warranty. Also spares direct from Bosch can be very cheap.
More often than not bearings are easy to source elsewhere.

I am looking at this as payback when Bosch stopped making a sanding pad for my multi tool and replaced it with a new version, would have been fine but I use it with a dust extractor and it no longer worked with the new pad. In the end to stop me moaning and taking them too small claims as my tool was useless I got it swapped for a new 18v ec tool and kit. Not bad for under £20

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[Zak33]

Gonz.. I feel your pain mate

it seems nearly everything , over time.. has notched down on quality

It's gutting.

I'm a proud user of some DeWalt kit now, but it'll be many years before I really know if it's dead good... and by then they might have lowered standards anyway

[Ttaskmaster]

There's some argument for buying the cheap £20 junk from Aldi, or even B&Q...

[GoNz0]

There's some argument for buying the cheap £20 junk from Aldi, or even B&Q...

Yeah I have tried it before with cheap stuff and when it comes down to me spending entire weekends outside sanding down the walls after chasing out every crack and filling said cracks the sander takes a real battering, I did have a £40 B&D effort that lasted about 6 hours as it couldn't take the constant running.

Amazingly the rest of it is in bloody good condition, even the brushes had about 9mm left on them and the bearing top and bottom of the rotor are fine, no notchiness to them so I decided it wasn't worth investing more than £20 on it as I will replace it with a better model if it lives another year.

I am just glad I am able to maintain and repair stuff like this to keep the costs down, saved myself a fair wedge last year putting new bearings and seals in our 7 year old LG washer

Gonz.. I feel your pain mate

it seems nearly everything , over time.. has notched down on quality

It's gutting.

I'm a proud user of some DeWalt kit now, but it'll be many years before I really know if it's dead good... and by then they might have lowered standards anyway

Half the trouble when we use pro kit for DIY it can often be well out of warranty when it packs up

[Ttaskmaster]

Yeah I have tried it before with cheap stuff and when it comes down to me spending entire weekends outside sanding down the walls after chasing out every crack and filling said cracks the sander takes a real battering, I did have a £40 B&D effort that lasted about 6 hours as it couldn't take the constant running.

Silly question perhaps, as I don't know the full details of the work... but isn't there a heftier, rougher 'surface reduction solution' that you'd be better off using first, before turning to sanding? I'm just thinking that a fine work tool like a sander is perhaps a bit much to use for a big job like sanding down outside walls... 6 hours of continual sanding sounds immense.

No disrespect or anything, I'm just wondering if you're using the equivalent of a Dremel™ sanding tube to do a job you'd need a plane for, kinda thing...?

[GoNz0]

Silly question perhaps, as I don't know the full details of the work... but isn't there a heftier, rougher 'surface reduction solution' that you'd be better off using first, before turning to sanding? I'm just thinking that a fine work tool like a sander is perhaps a bit much to use for a big job like sanding down outside walls... 6 hours of continual sanding sounds immense.

No disrespect or anything, I'm just wondering if you're using the equivalent of a Dremel™ sanding tube to do a job you'd need a plane for, kinda thing...?

I use a small bosch angle grinder with 24 grit to strip the paint off the walls, they have put some ungodly crap on the outside walls then the last coat before we bought it is god knows what but probably internal paint as that has green crap growing under it. I have to wear a face mask with ABEK1 filters it's that bad

We have original lime mortar rendering and 3 companies let us down as it is on so well it took the face off the bricks underneath, the problem is after 80+ years is has shrunk a bit and cracked in various sizes all over the house, only a few loose bits so we decided I was going to take it on.
Angle grind off the paint with 24 grit flap discs, then swap to a 2mm diamond bit and chase out the cracks. Fill said chase lines with Touprelith F then switch to the sander to flat off the filled bits so I have a smooth surface to sugar soap then masonry paint.

Yes it is time consuming.